The real reason this is interesting is because of OpenCL (http://www.khronos.org/opencl/) which just got approved by Khronos:
"OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is the first open, royalty-free standard for general-purpose parallel programming of heterogeneous systems. OpenCL provides a uniform programming environment for software developers to write efficient, portable code for high-performance compute servers, desktop computer systems and handheld devices using a diverse mix of multi-core CPUs, GPUs, Cell-type architectures and other parallel processors such as DSPs."
It's similar to OpenGL / OpenAL except that it's designed for general purpose computing and is already approved by the vast majority of players in the industry. Developing for proprietary CUDA is riddled with problems, but OpenCL should open up the doors for some very interesting applications. In my opinion, support for OpenCL is the single biggest feature in Apple's Snow Leopard.
I just put up a post on this in my blog - http://blog.expensivedna.com/?p=82
I'm an CS undergrad at Columbia University in New York and I can at least say that from my experience, college ISN'T for learning.
What I mean by that statement is the following: CS professors here assign homeworks but don't give you any guidance or assistance on how to do them. At least at Columbia, CS homeworks are essentially depth first searches using trial and error as a heuristic. Googling for answers is not a frequent method of finding answers, but often the only method. Professors are essentially useless. It's nice to know that all my money has gone to the free teachings of Google. Sigh...
As far learning from others, I personally would argue that two minds are better than one. Of course the problem lies among students who aren't trying to learn, but trying only to get a good grade. Professors claim the line is too fine to allow learning from other students. My claim is that if students want to copy, it's their own loss. When it comes time to actually do something on their own, they will be completely lost. Try proving P=NP by copying an answer from a friend.
Perhaps it's analagous to the seatbelt law. If people don't want to wear seatbelts, it's their loss, yet wearing seatbelts is still a law (at least in my hometown of NJ).
Such are my experiences here for anyone deciding where to go.
I wonder how accurate the translation to "information purification" actually is. We can assume that the original article wasn't written in English and thus had to be translated at some point. It's very easy for a translator working for a news agency to soup up the story by translating something to make it seem much more odious that it truly is. I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with what China intends to do, but the words "information purification" seem like they're a bit too contrived and Western/anti-communistic to me. I'd guess that the true meaning of what was written was closer to "regulation" which clearly has a less 1984ish ring to it. What are everyone else's thoughts?
I was looking at the axis webcams and apparently the higher end one has motion capture built in and the low end solution can be hookedu up to a cheap radio shack motion sensor. (so says their website) On top of that, they can be programmed to automatically upload images to any ftp server when the motion sensor triggers. I've never used either of em, but if your budget allows, maybe you should check em out.
Slashdot Mirror
The real reason this is interesting is because of OpenCL (http://www.khronos.org/opencl/) which just got approved by Khronos:
"OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is the first open, royalty-free standard for general-purpose parallel programming of heterogeneous systems. OpenCL provides a uniform programming environment for software developers to write efficient, portable code for high-performance compute servers, desktop computer systems and handheld devices using a diverse mix of multi-core CPUs, GPUs, Cell-type architectures and other parallel processors such as DSPs."
It's similar to OpenGL / OpenAL except that it's designed for general purpose computing and is already approved by the vast majority of players in the industry. Developing for proprietary CUDA is riddled with problems, but OpenCL should open up the doors for some very interesting applications. In my opinion, support for OpenCL is the single biggest feature in Apple's Snow Leopard.
I just put up a post on this in my blog - http://blog.expensivedna.com/?p=82
For all you macheads out there:
d e/ QuickTime/Goodies/ASCIIMoviePlayerSample.htm
Here's a link to a little Apple prog that will play*any* QT movie in the Terminal (as ascii).
Very cool stuff.
http://developer.apple.com/samplecode/Sample_Co
I'm an CS undergrad at Columbia University in New York and I can at least say that from my experience, college ISN'T for learning.
What I mean by that statement is the following: CS professors here assign homeworks but don't give you any guidance or assistance on how to do them. At least at Columbia, CS homeworks are essentially depth first searches using trial and error as a heuristic. Googling for answers is not a frequent method of finding answers, but often the only method. Professors are essentially useless. It's nice to know that all my money has gone to the free teachings of Google. Sigh...
As far learning from others, I personally would argue that two minds are better than one. Of course the problem lies among students who aren't trying to learn, but trying only to get a good grade. Professors claim the line is too fine to allow learning from other students. My claim is that if students want to copy, it's their own loss. When it comes time to actually do something on their own, they will be completely lost. Try proving P=NP by copying an answer from a friend.
Perhaps it's analagous to the seatbelt law. If people don't want to wear seatbelts, it's their loss, yet wearing seatbelts is still a law (at least in my hometown of NJ).
Such are my experiences here for anyone deciding where to go.
I wonder how accurate the translation to "information purification" actually is. We can assume that the original article wasn't written in English and thus had to be translated at some point. It's very easy for a translator working for a news agency to soup up the story by translating something to make it seem much more odious that it truly is. I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with what China intends to do, but the words "information purification" seem like they're a bit too contrived and Western/anti-communistic to me. I'd guess that the true meaning of what was written was closer to "regulation" which clearly has a less 1984ish ring to it. What are everyone else's thoughts?
I was looking at the axis webcams and apparently the higher end one has motion capture built in and the low end solution can be hookedu up to a cheap radio shack motion sensor. (so says their website) On top of that, they can be programmed to automatically upload images to any ftp server when the motion sensor triggers. I've never used either of em, but if your budget allows, maybe you should check em out.